The Support For Social And Political Reform In The 1960s. Watergate political scandal - Essay Example

There were enormous civil rights struggles, militant wages struggles in virtually every sector of the economy and urban riots. So why did all of this decline in the 1970's One of the reasons for this decline was that the 1970's was a time of the rise of the Conservative Right as a reaction to the permissiveness of the counter-culture in the 1960's which dismissed "family values", traditional religious values and had a widespread distrust in the government, thus creating a counter reaction to that culture.

Things were further complicated by America's declining economic condition world wide and the oil shock of 1973-74.The US saw the deepest recession since the 1930s.At this time President Nixon also announced the closure of the "Golden Window" which was a system of managed exchange rates which had far reaching political and economic consequences for American politics. The American working class did continue much of its militancy which was characteristic of the 1960's strikes. There were bitter strikes throughout the 1970s by workers and this crisis peaked during the 111-day nationwide coal miners' strike of 1977-78.

These workers sought to reinforce the whole series of social reforms about workers made by Roosevelt's New Deal. Often dubbed as concessions wrenched by the working class from the American ruling class, these were no longer feasible for the economically stagnating position of the US ruling elite and there was a continuous struggle to end these reforms. _______________________________________________________________DQ2.Why was Watergate a political scandal What were the immediate and long-term consequences of the Watergate investigation The term Watergate has become synonymous with corruption and conspiracy after it was used to cover the plethoric mass of political scandals between 1972 and 1974.

Watergate is actually the name of a Hotel in Washington D.C which also accommodates offices. On June 17, 1972 the office of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) was burgled and the eventual concealment of this burglary caused the political downfall of President Richard Nixon who ultimately resigned on 8 August 1974. In 1972 Five men belonging to the Plumbers group broke in and tapped the phones of DNC .These men were working secretly with the Nixon administration and were trying to stop and discredit on Daniel Ellsberg who had leaked the Vietnam war scandal.

The only reason this burglary was revealed was because of a vigilant security guard. The scandal arose when it turned out that all of the so called burglars were being funded by the Committee to Re-Elect the President (C.R.E.E.P.). Although Nixon won the next presidential election the repercussions of the scandal were far reaching as the so called burglars went to jail. Many of the White House staff resigned as the link between the burglary and the administration became obvious. In 1973 there was a Senate investigation and Nixon admitted to having the tapped oval office conversations and pleaded Executive Privilege as an excuse not to hand the tapes over.

After the famous "Saturday Night Massacre' in October 1973 as he tried firing the people he feared would tell on him he was in deeper trouble as his continued refusal caused him to be named un-indicted co-conspirator in the obstruction of justice over the Watergate matter. Nixon continued to claim Executive Privilege in his refusals to hand the materials over. The Supreme Court unanimously rejected his contention and he was ordered to hand over the tapes. At his refusal the House of